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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26654134">Timothy Sherlock and Mycroft Percy Murphy's life</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steampunksherlockian/pseuds/Steampunksherlockian'>Steampunksherlockian</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work, Sherlock (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AU where they change their names, Child Prodigies I guess, F/M, Minor character death in childbirth, Multi, Other, Single Father</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2014-03-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2014-03-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 10:33:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,997</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26654134</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steampunksherlockian/pseuds/Steampunksherlockian</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What if your wife died and left you with baby Sherlock and Mycroft before they were recognized as special... </p><p>Meet Brodie one day as he is in an interview and reminisces about just how difficult and rewarding bringing up the Holmes boys before they changed their surname to Holmes. </p><p>PS. Definitely going to be a bit AU so watch out if you prefer not to look at AU fanfics...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Narrator and family, mycroft/sherlock</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Telling it from the start</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Oh, it's you. So I should tell this from the beginning…"</p><p>"Elaine and I were happy. With Elaine being pregnant with a baby boy, and everything is set up for his arrival, we had picked the name Mycroft because of Elaine's love for the modern TV series Sherlock"<br/>
"Mycroft is Russian for Michael in case you were wondering… And a couple of days later I had a phonecall while I was working two weeks before our son was due; from Barts "Mr Murphy, your wife has gone into labour… I fell off my chair, and rushed to Bart's as soon as I could… Mycroft was what she'd managed to utter as a name before she left…"</p><p>"I had gained two sons which I was surprised with Elaine didn't look like she was carrying two. But the two baby boys had lost a mother. It was that moment exactly that I promised myself I would live for my family first before anything else. I named Mycroft Percy Murphy and the younger baby boyTimothy Sherlock Jordan Murphy. The younger baby boy struck me because he had lavender eyes like his mother but, he had symptoms of Elaine's genetic disorder, Central heterochromia …"</p><p>I was getting tense so, I made an excuse to nearest nurse and went outside, saying to myself "I haven't done this since coming back… I exhaled my cigarette and promised the skies -and Elaine- that "I won't smoke around the children."</p><p>I went back inside and asked, "How long do the boys have to be in the hospital for?"</p><p>The nurse I spoke to introduced herself "I'm Matron Kirsty, and the babies don't really need to be here much longer, the important checks have been done… So they can go home. Kirsty looked at me, and asked, "Is there a problem, Mr Murphy?"</p><p>"Erm, well, yes. We were expecting only Mycroft so, I'll need to go shopping because…" I stopped Kirstywas chuckling "You're quite the excited father aren't you? The hospital has dressed the boys basically and will allow you time to go shopping."</p><p>If anything I think I might have brought too much…layettes, two rear-facing car seats, one crib(I had my own ready for one of the boys), baby bath kit, and cloth nappies… everything I didn't buy Elaine had already brought.</p><p>Once I had collected the car from our flat, and gone shopping I returned to Kirsty who was feeding Tim, after having fed Mycroft. "He has the most amazing eyes," I remarked.</p><p> "Central Heterochromia isn't it? His mother had that."</p><p> Kirsty nodded as she said, "I'll help you with getting them ready to go home."When I got home I told our neighbour, Mr Jacob, about everything and he said: "I'm always here to help, I'm downstairs in the next flat."</p><p>When the boys were five I hired a tutor to home-school them until they were nearly thirteen…<br/>
I was forever troubled by the fact the boys might know something was wrong once they went to Harrow, had already started asking questions…"</p><p> "dad, why do the other boys have two parents and not one like us?"</p><p> "Come on Sherlock, father won't tell us. It hurts too much…"</p><p> "Why did you call me Sherlock? That'sone of my middle names, my first name is Tim…"<br/>
I stared at Mycroft slightly fazed… but shook it off and said in my best fatherly advice voice "Well, now you're nearly old enough to go, Harrow, You might meet other boys called Timothy so you might have to use your middle name."</p><p>"…But what does Sherlock mean, dad? " "Well Sherlock roughly translated means fair-haired or bright-haired and you have fair hair as your mother did, and Mycroft your name is Russian for Michael, and also because you're mother loved the TV program "Sherlock" and finally, I will tell you some time but when you are older…"</p><p>That week I went to the Harrow parents' evening with sherlock (He now wants to be called that instead of timothy) and Mycroft.</p><p>The master of the house that the boys would be in was very helpful to stop me worrying, "Well Mr Murphywe at Harrow have shepherds in each double dorm room so the new shells can have someone to help and there's always the Matron who won't mind being woken up if any boy has a problem." </p><p>And I thought I'm going to miss the noise in the mornings and everything until they're back… "Finally, Shells have an email address so that they can email you." </p><p>I was convinced I had made a great choice that day because the boys looked happy and had said "See you in the Exeats and the Half-term!"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. I should tell you know you're older...</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>"What happened to mum?" Not the sort of question a single father wants to be asked by their child.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sherlock rested his violin in another chair and Mycroft stared intently at me until I said "... well I guess now you are older- I should tell you, that I was as work when it happened, your mother wasn't due to give birth for a couple of weeks and then I get a call from St. Bart's saying she's gone into labour...I fell off my chair and told my boss, that my wife was in the hospital and that I was going there to be with her-But dad what happened!? Sherlock looked enthralled until Mycroft said grumpily "Stop interrupting and maybe dad will tell us." -"thankyou Mycroft, but don't be mean Sherlock's only excited- However when I got to the hospital your mother had died after her labour, and I was handed you two... I asked Mr Jacob to look after you and found myself a job then; when you were old enough to teach I hired a tutor... That's about it." "I kept some of her stuff so that you could have a look at it...<br/>I went to the chest of drawers and pulled out a shoebox with Elaine's stuff inside, Hergrandfather's pocket watch, a photo of us when we met her perfume bottle... Sherlock and Mycroftreverently marvelled over what she must have been like as the looked at each object.<br/>I felt a lump in my thought rise and was glad that the telephone rang before the boys couldn't see me upset.<br/>"Hello, Mr Murphy speaking?" "Oh, yes I have got health insurance, thank you please don't call this number in the future"</p><p> </p><p>I hated canvassers, trying to sell you stuff that you already have or honestly don't care about. But I was glad that I could compose myself so that I could try to hide how touched I was that the boys wanted to know about their mother.</p><p><br/>I walked back into the living room and was greeted by a question from Mycroft. "What was mum's occupation? I just noticed there's an insignia on the pocket of the jacket she's wearing in this photo."</p><p>"Your mother was a genius mathematician, but she gave it all up for children... my answer was quite short and had wanted to say more but Mycroftnoticed my discomfort and changed the subject"Sherlock's made some salt crystals with his science kit, he says he wants you to inspect the cluster.</p><p><br/>I walked into Sherlock's bedroom, I know he'd only been home for a while from Harrow, but already his organized chaos brought on by his absent-mindedness was shown in his room.</p><p>he stood by his desk, with back to us but he knew Mycroft and I stood in the doorway because he spoke to us. "Sodium chloride is great as a crystal formula don't you think? Mycroft said "During the evenings when we had spare time sherlock spent most of his time in the science labs...</p><p><br/>Sherlock finished off Mycroft's sentence for him-While you sat in the library reading thousands of books,<br/>I'm not boring Sherlock, I just like being still instead of bouncing around like a rambunctious puppy which you are prone to show in your character.</p><p> </p><p>Face it, Myc you are BORING unless can prove to me that all those books have made you somehow interesting...</p><p><br/>I interrupted the two "Books can help as much as doing practical things can, Ok please don't bicker...</p><p><br/>Mycroft and Sherlock had heard but were just warming up. I'm the Smart one BECAUSE of books Sherlock and I can prove it. I challenge you to chess.</p><p><br/>I this was brought on by going to the same college and having to be so close so I just let them sort out for themselves. After three games of chess, an argument over Monopoly and vicious name-calling and teasing throughout I blew my top "This feud is simply childish, and if your mother could see you now she'd be deeply upset!"</p><p>"I think that it doesn't matter who is five minutes older or who is smarter, everybody's different and you've just got to accept that!"</p><p><br/>I guess I was acting as bad as they were but, I'd never expected them to act so explosively against each other. Sure that was apparently how brother actin proximity it seemed. I sat at my desk with my head in my hands, until I realized Mycroft had come and sat down beside me "Father? he said softly. I raised my head from my hands and looked at Mycrofthe seem solemn and he'd never called father before... "Yes, Mycroft? "Sherlock's gone. He'staken his stuff and he's gone." "I never meant- or even dreamed - that I had pushed him too far..."</p><p><br/>I grabbed my coat and rushed to the door and Mycroftfollowed grabbing a bag of things he'd packed. I never realized how practical boarding school had made him...</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Why I ran</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sherlock runs away after an argument with Mycroft.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I ran because Mycroft obviously didn't see how much he had hurt me. Jimmy Moriarty had been hassling me and I was scared, so I ran. Jimmy looked after LordMoran's hound sometimes and lately, he'd been chasing me with the bloody awful animal off its leash.</p><p>"Stop it! Jimmy, stop it's not a game anymore..." I pleaded he'd just laugh I heard him laugh even in the distance... I ran so far until I had no ideas where I was... #</p><p>Exhausted, bleeding and tired I saw a group of boys playing football and climbed a tree to watch. The boy with brownish-blonde hair was very serious as he said"Mikey for fuck's sake!, pass the ball now I gotta get home...</p><p>before my dad comes home from the pub and, discovers Harry's at Clara's again..." the second boy of the group had glasses, was short and apparently called Mikey lobbed the ball at the boy with the brownish-blonde hair shouting "Alright Johnny boy Watson don't be so serious, you'll get your boxers knotted up!" I watched Johnny Watson as he stuck his middle fingers up to the group including Mikey and approached the oak I was hiding.</p><p>I heard a snap and whirled around thinking it was Jimmy and fell out of the oak with a thud. My head buzzed in pain and I just had enough consciousness to hear Johnny Watson exclaim "Shit! guys, this boy's injured help me get him up... The next thing I knew I was sitting in a spare bed with johnny Watson tending to my wounds.</p><p>"Oh, you'reawake now, What's your name?" I stared. Not many people asked that lately. All I had in the circle were people I knew at school and my family. No friends as such. and Jimmy, my arch-enemy. Johnny looked at me concerned asking "Can you talk?" I came back from my mind "Yes, sorry I'm Timothy Sherlock Murphy, but I prefer to be called Sherlock, I continued reading Johnny's mind and answering his questions until I asked him "Why are you caring for me like this, Johnny Watson?" Johnny stared "Oh, you must have heard us playing football at Hyde Park.</p><p>I'm caring for you because you're hurt, that tree was quite high and it's nice to have someone come to see me besides my sister's friends- Johnny said that word slowly as if he was getting used to saying it and continued until he realized he was waffling.</p><p>we waited in silence for a bit until I broke the ice"Afghanistan, or Iraq?" Johnny looked horrified and answered in a heightened squeak "what!?" he started to become irrationally skittish so, I explained further your mother's death...Which was it?" Johnny made it look like he was going to punch me and then stopped, He spoke almost in a whisper "...Afghanistan... She was a doctor for the 5thNorthumberland fusiliers. She taught me how to treat wounds and stuff.</p><p>Great for things like this. He took a long breath like it had hurt him to keep this bottled up. He looked up and said, "What about you then, Sherlock ?" I took an even longer breath and explained about my mother, Mycroft, dad, school, Jimmy and running... He looked deeply understanding and said "My sibling is at a friend'sand my dad's almost always drunk... So, you could stay the night and tomorrow I'll help you get back on track." He smiled. I agreed with him and drifted into a deep, much-needed rest.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Finding Sherlock</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Mycroft wracks his brain for all the different place Sherlock might be with their Dad. </p><p>John takes good care of the wounded boy and befriends him.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Mycroft and I sat on a bench recalling place sherlock might have gone to. Well, I just held my head in my hands and Mycroft sat awkwardly on the bench suggesting places, "Harrods, Hyde Park, maybe st. Bart's, or... wait a minute what about New ScotlandYard..." I froze "Yes of course maybe someone found and took him to the police!" Mycroft sighed heavily"I was too hard on him perhaps it was something at school that was weighing him down and I made it worse..." I squeezed Mycroft's shoulders and we began walking to a nearby taxi rank so that we could travel to Victoria st.</p><p><br/>Meanwhile, Johnny Watson and I took a drowsy but, healed Sherlock to New Yard Scotland after some check-ups at St. Bart's... He seemed a very shy boy unless you happened to have talked to him for a while which I and Johnny did, he had told us about running away after an argument with his brother and then meeting Moriarty, who was a spoilt boy that looked after Lord Moran's dog from hell. Nasty piece of work. He'd chased Sherlock with Moran's hound until he had lost him in Hyde park...<br/>Johnny was always so serious and although it got on the other lads' nerves a bit, we were glad of someone good at first-aid, otherwise, we might've not noticed Sherlock had fallen out of the massive oak.</p><p><br/>So we had Sherlock fixed up as best we could after we took him to St. Bart's and now we were waiting at NewScotland Yard so we could perhaps find out where Sherlock lived because he had just run and didn't know where he was going up until he fell out of the oak.</p><p>Johnny approached the desk and said "Sherlockhere has got lost and we wondered if his family have reported anything?" the officer smiled and lead into an office saying "I'm PC Greg Lestrade, wait here and I'll check the reports for last couple hours for you... Can I get you a drink or anything?"PC Lestrade said as he checked files on a computer thoroughly... And that moment another police officer knocked of the glass window of the office and PC Lestrade ushered her in, "I'm PC Edwards she said, continuing... And Timothy's dad and brother are waiting at the front desk."</p><p>PC Lestrade and PC Edwards flanked us as they lead us to the front to greet Sherlock's family. Johnny took the situation of explaining to how we had found Sherlock, and all the while Sherlock's smile grew wider, Mr Murphyand Sherlock's brother Mycroft then thanked the police and invited us to lunch. I had to decline because I had a class of younger science students to mentor but Johnny and Sherlock's family looked an amazing picture as they left in the taxi.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Older but still "Friends"</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>John tells us what happened next and a bit about the future.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I went to Smollensky's with the Murphy family that day. </p><p>They seemed to be a bit scatty but families often are far from perfect, specifically mine as an example. Sherlock seemed happy to be around me and my friends especially Mikey. </p><p>His father explained to me that since Sherlock and Mycroft's mother died was difficult to keep the two brothers in check, I agreed and commented "Well it could've been worse, my sibling and I live with our dad and he just took to the alcohol after mum died in Afghanistan..." Mr.Murphy looked sympathetically at me and said "Well, that's how you and Sherlock get so well then, you've shared a similar pain of losing someone close; both of your mothers."</p><p>Sherlock's older brother Mycroft also seemed quite pleased about Sherlock being safe back with them "Iknow he could be difficult but I never wanted him to feel unwanted and leave, I am glad he found someone who can make him see the sense; he seems to not have many friends in Harrow..."<br/>"Don't worry Mycroft, I'll be there to help him...</p><p>I thought of Sherlock now and then as I was in TheDuke of York's Royal Military School 6th form. I also studied as a medical student which helped me come closer to my dream of being a military doctorlike mum... Our father had died of alcohol poisoning, just after Harry's 17th but I always looked after her anyway. </p><p>Mikey was studying at st. Bart's too and I still saw Sherlock sometimes...He's studying Criminology and things like that as if it's a pastime now but I guess he's always been that way as he got older. </p><p>Apparently, Mycroft got himself a good job but I didn't ask any further because he answered "I really couldn't say any more details about it, John." when I asked him. </p><p>Soon I will pass a medical student at 's and then as my 18th birthday is soon I can go to the military recruiting office strait from 6th form... Harry's doing well too after getting married to Clara, and honestly, as an older brother, I'm happy for them.</p>
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